Nigel Farage has resigned as leader of Ukip after he lost his battle to win the South Thanet seat, where the Conservative candidate for the constituency secured more than 2,000 votes than the Eurosceptic firebrand.

Farage, an MEP for the South East of England, previously said he would step down as leader of Ukip if he was defeated in Kent and kept to his word after the result came in.

He recommended Suzanne Evans, the deputy chairman of the party, should be appointed acting leader.

Farage said he felt "pretty damned good" compared with the last general election he was involved in, following a plane crash.

"I do congratulate the prime minister. He has secured a Tory majority, something that nobody thought was possible and there was an earthquake in this election and it happened north of the border, it happened in Scotland," he declared.

"What you saw were a lot of voters so scared of that Labour/SNP coalition that they shifted towards the Conservatives."

The 51-year-old also said he witnessed another shift, that Ukip had become a party for the under thirties – not just "retired, old generals".

Craig Mackinlay is now the Conservative MP for South Thanet after securing 18,848, against Farage's 16,026 and Labour's 11,740 in the constituency.

Meanwhile, Ukip has only been able to secure one seat in the House of Commons after the election in the shape of Douglas Carswell, who was re-elected as MP for Clacton-on-Sea.